DefenseNews

Ukraine war fatigue fuels defense-spending downgrade plan in Italy

ROME — Italian military planners risk losing out on €8 billion ($9 billion) in funding as government and opposition parties seek to cut both defense spending and support for Ukraine. The plans to limit spending emerged this week as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni continues to be squeezed between NATO spending targets and voter opposition to spending tax payers’ cash on arms not…
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DefenseNews

US leaders send mixed messages to Indo-Pacific nations

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Army officials from 25 different Indo-Pacific nations recently met in New Zealand to hammer out cooperative defense strategies. Simultaneously, the top political leaders in the United States were sending conflicting messages about its partnerships in the region. The 50th Indo-Pacific Armies Management Seminar (IPAMS) was held in Auckland in late September, and it…
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DefenseNews

Ukraine has struck Russian factory vital for Moscow’s missiles, private intelligence firm says

GLASGOW, Scotland — A Russian factory that Ukraine struck on Sept. 26 supplies electronics for a wide range of Russia’s missiles, potentially leaving Moscow without a fallback supplier, according to leaked documents obtained by the Ukrainian private intelligence firm Dallas Analytics. The documents about the factory in question, Azov Optical-Mechanical Plant (AOMZ) in Russia’s western Rostov…
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DefenseNews

UAE turns to Russian shadow airline for missions in Africa: Investigation

VIENNA — The United Arab Emirates, a Western darling for security cooperation in the region, appears to have regularly used Aviacon Zitotrans, a sanctioned Russian airline linked to the Kremlin’s military and paramilitary operations, over the course of the past year, a Defense News investigation shows. Analysis of thousands of flight records as well as gigabytes of leaked internal company…
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